Who's next? I thought these things only went in threes....

I found this old photo booth picture of my mom and dad while looking through the old pictures I brought back last year. I think it was taken while they were dating so that would be 1963 or 1964. As always on this day, I miss my mom but the sadness is less this year and I can laugh when thinking of the good times.

Happy Mothers Day to all moms out there and, as I say every year, I don't presume to know how all mothers and kids get along but if you have a good relationship with your mom then give her a call or a hug for all of us who can't! :)

Watching a National Geographic Channel show on the expeditions to Jupiter. On our cable system DVR program guide the title of the show is listed as "Journey to Juniper". Too many people rely on spell-check without doing actual "editing"/proofreading. :-/

Two years ago this morning my mum passed away after her long struggle with lymphoma. She'd lived well past the time she'd been given when the last chemo/radiation treatment failed her. The suffering she endured both personally and watching my dad before he died really tested her established beliefs. Sometimes she'd get so frustrated she'd take off her wig and throw it, but in the last few months she found and deeper peace with her condition and her God. Whether that was all spiritual or just the final stop on the Kubler-Ross Express is known only to her.

She lived a good life in service to not only her family, but also her patients. There were many times when my dad was drinking heavily that she thought about taking us kids and leaving him, but she stuck it out through all the broken promises and was eventually rewarded with my dad's sustained sobriety. She chose to work the night shift on the alcohol/drug detox unit at the VA (can you say "sublimation") caring for the patients when they came in drunk, belligerent and puking. She'd clean them up, put them to bed and in the morning work with the docs to get them transferred to rehab units or send them back out (when they didn't want rehab) with fingers crossed and the reminder of "I'm usually here on the night shift. You can always come back if you really want rehab next time." On more than one occasion we would be out in public and some unknown man would come up to her and say something like, "Hi, Ms. Quinn, remember me? I'm still doing great with AA (or some other program) and just wanted you to know." She'd always congratulate them on their sobriety and reinforce to them that it was THEIR victory. I had a chance to work on her unit in residency. I would come on in the mornings as she would be ending her night shift and I'd walk her to her car.

It doesn't seem like two years, but I, of course, still miss her terribly. Time has made it a little easier, but I spoke with my sister who still feels it more keenly since she essentially lived with her those last few years.  So I'll remember only the good today and as my Jewish friends at work told me, "May her memory be for a blessing".  I love you, mom, and miss you.

This is mindless fun

Crap! Ice storm is moving into the area and we've already had a few "flickers" with the power. I HATE losing power......please, no power loss!


I'll deal with the icy roads in the morning......

I sometimes run through my friends list to see who might need a "nudge" to reconnect here on LJ. Some people just decide it's time to move on (I still miss discograss  and his dimples) but others seem to drop off the radar and no one knows what happened.


One of those people who seemed to just disappear was tommyx . He was one of the first group of people to friend me when I started this thing many years ago. He would often post for awhile and then not post for months at a time. He was a very cool guy who lived with HIV and didn't let it get him down. A number of his friends here have been concerned because he hasn't posted in about two years now. None of us seemed to be able to find out any info on him.

Well, recently I joined one of those genealogy sites where you can enter names into large search engines and get all kinds of information. So on a whim today I decided to enter Tommy's name (thanks,  magicwoman ) and the birthday he listed in his profile. Sadly I found a matching record in the Social Security database for his name and birthdate stating that he had passed away on December 3, 2006. I have no way of confirming this independently, but the birthdate, name and place of residence all match as well as the time frame of his last post.

I know there are people on my f-list that knew Tommy. I'm sad to find out this news but glad that I finally know what happened to him. Be at peace, Tommy.

*sigh*